The 1UP Community Raises its Voice Against GameStop's Removal of Deus Ex OnLive Codes

The 1UP Community shares its thoughts on GameStop's questionable actions.

GameStop has definitely incurred the rage of the masses with its latest stunt. It admittedly opened brand-new copies of the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in order to remove the OnLive codes that were placed within the packaging. Not only is the practice of selling previously opened items as 'brand new' unethical, the legality of doing so has been called into question. GameStop is now reportedly pulling PC copies from its shelves so that they can be recalled.

The 1UP Community, comprised of both GameStop customers and former employees, were eager to shed some light on the retail chain's questionable practices, as well as share their feelings concerning its recent actions.

A thread on the 1UP Board is ongoing, which you can find here. Read on for some highlights from both that thread and the comments section from today's news story.

"As a former GS Manager this is nothing new. GS pulls a lot of this and they say its cause they didn't know about what was packaged in the box. How did they know about the coupon unless someone high up opened one and saw the piece of paper. 1) It's shady to have the employees open every copy and toss the coupon out, why not make the code invalid on SE side and 2) I am one of the few that didn't like to sell open copies of games, there is always another GS within 1 mile of each other and all it takes is a few minutes to call them and ask if they have any sealed copies left, not all GS employees are useless bags just the ones that think it's cool to work for a company that sells games but then realize its ACTUALLY work not just standing around and playing. And yes i do agree its a pain when I'm asked if I want to join there card club or asked to reserve something.. If I want to then I'll say I want to don't need to ask me 100 questions or try to sway me to spend more than I want. I realize its your job but it doesn't mean you have to hound me."- SolidSoldier

"Sure, there have been many claims heard that GameStop sells used copies to customers as new, but I didn't think they'd actually stoop to gutting games because of something they don't like inside. And then bluntly saying, "yeah we did that, so what about it?" They could have sold through that stock, and refuse to restock until they removed that from the boxes, or pulled the games from the shelves and refunded everyone's preorders, but no. They had to have the money. They had to have it so bad that they resorted to making their employees gut games essentially making them used, and then shamelessly selling them as new. You can't drive a car off the lot once you pay the down payment and then drive it around the block and then bring it back and call it new. Are the upper levels of management so consumed with their greed to even notice how incredibly illegal this is? This should be a wakeup call to everyone who knows about this and their other practices. Stop buying from GameStop. There are better and frankly cheaper alternatives like amazon or new egg to buy your games from."- VariantX

"Go buy a brand new game, open the shrink wrap, and see if they will return it. NOPE! I worked at Gamestop for a year and they constantly open new games for box purposes. It doesn't matter if the disc was never touched, by law it's no longer considered new once it has been opened. Watch Target try to sell a package of underwear that an employee opened and they just taped it."- 6StringSamurai

"If this is considered legal, which I cannot image how it would be, then what's to keep GS from taking out the dragon statue from your $150.00 CE of Skyrim? After all, don't then sell collectables in all GS stores? Yeah it was an asshole move on the part of Square Enix. One that was most likely deliberate, but what GameStop has done here seems like theft. This is why as a personal choice, I pulled ALL nine pre-orders from GS today."- Capt.Tripps

"Who has or doesn't have OnLive, it has nothing to do with that. It is the fact GameStop is removing the key prior to selling the game in which they had nothing to do with the cross promotion themselves and they do not presently have a competing service (not even in Beta).

"The proper way would have been to contact SE and OnLive about the promotion and indicate that they wouldn't sell the game without the coupons removed."
- Synkhe

"This doesn't come as a shock really, it's GameStop after all. My local ones are notorious for being absolutely terrible. In addition to partaking in the normal GameStop practices of things like gutting new copies of games for display and still selling them at full price, selling used games at full price if they're "close enough" and the usual bombardment of sales (not really anyone's fault though, they're pushers and make a lot of money that way, plus the employees have quotas for reservations last I checked) they'd do things like steal pre-order bonuses, "borrow" games from the store (new or used, remember, they gut at least one new copy of a game for display in my area) to take home and play and bring back at their own leisure, out-right hide games if they're the last of a copy so the employee can purchase it after he gets off shift, and just steal, lie, and cheat in general. The only time they got punished for it, despite the complaints, was when a manager taught his employees how to steal cash from the drawer and how to cover it up. So essentially, GameStop only gave a shit when the money came out of GameStop's pocket. LOL. No surprise there.

"This is ridiculous though, I don't see how it's GameStop's product like that PR person said, it's Square's isn't it? And GameStop is agreeing to sell it? Yeah, they paid for them, but is it really that big a deal that there's a fucking coupon in there? Don't open a product, remove shit from it, and then try and sell it to me full price you lousy git."
- Junker'D

Comments (132)

Gamestop can screw over somebody else, because I won't deal with their crap.

I'm not going to even bother telling the story of how Gamestop dicked me over. Why bother? Most people reading this already realize what kind of business practices they have.

The worst part part about Gamestop is that they're usually the only choice we have when it comes to a dedicated games retailer. I just wish that we could have a chain store that was at least mediocre. Mediocrity would be acceptable. But these @$$holes have the market cornered, so we're stuck with them.

In any event, I don't buy from Gamestop anymore. We might not have an alternative when it comes to a dedicated store, but at least we have a number of retailers that carry games in addition to other stock. When Gamestop does eventually fail someday it will likely go to games retailer hell, where it will be forced to stock nothing but ET for the Atari 2600 for all eternity.

Blowing this off?

For those thinking this isn't a big deal... On 8/24 Gamestop sold you a new game at a new game price that was "Open Box". Then, they proceeded to give you a "50$ Gamestop gift card and a 2 for 1 used game offer" as an apology. That OnLive code was worth 59.98$. It granted you a full PlayPass of Deus Ex: Human Revolution standard edition and a full PlayPass of Deus Ex: Game of the Year. As a PC Gamer, the 2 for 1 used game offer is useless since the only thing Gamestop stocks is console games. I can play OnLive games on the PC. It also forced you to stay with Gamestop to redeem your 50$ gift card. So you paid full price for an "Open Box" item, you were given a gift card worth 9.98$ less than what Square Enix and OnLive was offering you and you CAN'T get a PC game with the 2 for 1 used game offer. Gamestop just made off with your money, continues to drive monopolistic ideals, and feels it's OK as a policy to give you "Open Box" items pretending they are new (and do their best to get away with it).

Why exactly couldn't I return the PC Game that was tampered with for a refund? OMG they would loose money and it would be against their store POLICY on YOU! You could have gone to a different retailer (BestBuy, Amazon, etc...) and actually got what you originally purchased! What would have happened if the OnLive code was printed on the instruction book. Would they have taken that out too and tried to sell it as new?

I suspected some items I purchased new in prior years from Gamestop were "Open Box". Now I know it's true. If the government isn't going to step in and legally Gamestop has enough policies to cover their ass then I'll do my part. No more Gamestop... Ever. No Impulse game downloads, No Spawn Lab streaming, no brick and mortar purchases.

WOW

Good to know this is happening

I must say Game Stop isn't the only store altering the contents of products they sell... but in all other examples I've encountered other retailers are adding coupons and such, not removing something that came with the software from the publisher, then proudly informing the consumer about it. I could be wrong, I haven't bought every boxed piece of software out there...

But to condone any retailer's actions that has them removing material from a pre-packaged product without telling the consumer before they buy it is sheer dishonesty. The product is no longer representative of what the publisher is producing whether it's an intregal part of the game, or an added value item designed to promote a related product or service.

To not be outraged by Game Stop's actions is not healthy and passively fosters dishonesty. Game Stop needs to be held accountable for this. There are plenty of other choices of retailers out there, both by retailers that maintain storefronts and retailers that only have an online presence. You can be sure I will be not be shopping Game Stop ever again.

Gamestop story

I remember years ago I walked in and asked if they had Eternal Darkness for Gamecube. The nerd behind the counter proceeded to over-laugh (almost like a surreal movie scene) with his equally lumpy co-worker and said "You seriously think we have that? There is NO CHANCE we do." He didn't even suggest where to look next or if any other store may have had it.

See, here's the problem with that response. It alienates the general public. Not everyone is a fanboy. At the time, I wasn't aware that Eternal Darkness was a rare game. Imagine going into a grocery store and asking for a certain cut of meat and being treated that way. I don't fucking think so.

At least i know my local, socially crippled nerd will have gainful employment for the forseeable future

Very Unprofessional.

I had a similar experience, but at a local family owned trade-in shop. I inquired about a used copy of Okami for GameCube and the guy nearly had a nerd aneurysm. I wasn't aware that Okami was rare and selling for a high price, but the guy could have been a little more PC about it. When I go in there now I avoid small talk at all costs.

I work @ Gamestop....

They did not advertise the onlive deal at all so stop bicthing about somthing you didnt even know youre getting. onlive is our competitor so why would we help them? Plus PC gamers are not real gamers because they need a mouse to play a shooter, pick up a controller you pussies!

Hahaha

If this is real...which I'm hoping to god it isn't (unless mankind is heading in a very scary direction) he's right, you represent the company very well. Let me know how your professional courtesy has improved once your balls drop.

Wow

I'm working for your competitor. We didn't remove it. We take every pain to sell a game as new as possible. We will reseal it. Recondition it. And we don't call our customer base "pussies". And NO, I don't fucking wanna preorder Skyrim from you bitch ass.

you are wrong

JJust because OnLive may be your competitor, that doesn't give you a right to OPEN a sealed package and then sell it as NEW. It is not NEW anymore, and I expect to pay a reduced price for the now USED game.

Is it not surprising that he didn't even bother to respond to any of our comments?

Hello

If it wasnt for gamestop those devolpers would be selling there games in walmart clerance bins after the fist two weeks. Peolpe buy the old games cheap so they can get ready for the new sequal when it comes out new.

Ok lets all breathe and look at the situation

A) GameStop pulls out something that advertises a competitors buisness. If Toys R Us paid a company, say Nintendo, to include a coupon to their own game department with every copy of Pokemon, would you expect GameStop to sell it? You can argue there were better ways to handle it like tell the makers to rmove the coupon before they would sell it, but it is not like they are opening the game, playing it for a few days, and then putting it on the shelf as new.

B) I worked for a few months at a GameStop, and dont get me started on how much I hated it (Gamestopo is right, but only in terms of working there; as a company to buy from they are fine). In that time we too were told that there must be one open copy on the shelf for each game. I watched and did this many times over those months. Used games were never put out as new (read exception below). I wont say no employee in any store has ever done it, I am sure some have, but it is not some huge conspiracy. This brings me to my third point

3) Yes it is possible to buy one of these opened games, play it, and return it within a day (more than that and they wont) they will usually take it back (not always). Hey if I play a crap game for 30 minutes I just spent $60 on I have no problem bringing it back. If I have played 10 hours though I wont. So what? The next person gets a brand new (-30 minutes) game that they may or may not like and may or may not return. "But what if in the 30 minutes you played it it breaks and someone else gets that copy?" you may ask. Then they return it as defective for a brand spanking new copy of said game. Plus think of it like this. I bought a game and Gamestop owes the maker royalties or whatever. I then return the game as new, and the reshelve it as new, resell it and have to pay more royalties. But if they were real greedy they would put that game back out as used and keep the full $55 a used game brings, than whatever they get from the $60 new game after the royalties are paid.

It is like laws that give consumers 3 days to drive a car after buying it in which they may return it for a full refund, and that car is still considered new. And that brand new car that just came out of the assembly line? How many test drives will it get before finding an owner?

I'm not championing for Gamestop or corporate greed and shenanigans, but I think that this in no way harms the gamers.

still not ok

TThen GameStop should've returned all games back to the developer after having found this out, or not restocked. I still don't think it is acceptable for a retailer to open a sealed package and then sell it to me as new. That problem should've stayed between the businesses, you don't have to inolve the public consumers iin your mess

Special report

Recently, it's been the latest policy to sell the games separate from the boxes. Gamestop CEO J Raines said that new policy should bring in a whole new breed of customers interested in buying empty boxes. "Some will come in and buy the boxes, others will buy just the game discs. Some may buy both, but we are also separating the game manuals. So actually we would like to expand it to three different buyers, though we know most don't read the manuals since gamers can't read."

Employees were less enthusiastic about the new selling tactic. "I honestly can't see the reasoning behind this. It seems illogical, and a waste of time, not to mention making the customer upset", said one employees who's name we won't show. Regrettably, his interview was cut short since he was given his payment in corn nuts and lint by the general manager, who shuffled him along.

"People need to be shown what to buy. It only makes sense that they should buy the box to know what they are buying, the manuals to learn how to play the game, THEN the game itself. It makes perfect sense."

Suddenly Satan, the one from South Park, appeared. He was taking autographs, and having no shame in front of the camera came forth to us and stated that he's proud of human accomplishments.

"I couldn't have thought of a more evil thoughtful plan! Gamestop is on it's way to take over the world by filling gamer's heart with joy.

Satan was later seeing giving away chocolate candies and coupons for free digital downloads, but was quickly stopped by Gamestop's troops.

"Vee vill have none of that here, not even fromz Satan!", said one of the leaders.

shady

This would be like your local grocery store removing the coupon books from the sunday circulars cause they don't want to sell products at a loss. ( I know they get reimburssed for the amount discounted, but there are some coupons for things they don't carry.)

SS Tactics!

Here's a scenario. Gamestopo opens the game and someone takes it home. They install it and oh wow, there's a crack for it so no disc needed. They absent-mindendly register it, or perhaps the online connection with the game takes the original numbers needed for the disc and now it can't be used by anyone else. They bring it back in a 'new' condition. Buyer buys the game and now they can't play the game. It can happen.

The game isn't new once that seal is open. I have no way of knowing how the game was molested.

Here's another scenario. Gamestopo goes in and takes out coupons then lies to me about them ever being there.

I hope Gamestopo's online affair fails miserably.Also wanted everyone to know that anyone whoever comes online and supports Gamestopo's tactics, or says things like "OH it's No big deal Gamestop did the right thing, I love Gamestop, you people need to lighten up"... WORK for Gamestop.

I went there once about 6 months ago

when they had a good deal on God of War III new (cheaper than used). This was a rare occurance where the prices was comparable to Amazon. It wasn't worth it as I got harassed by the salesgeek for 10 minutes to pre-order every game he could think of and to sign up to their rewards card.

Finally, he checked my game out and sighed "ooooh this title is 'Mature'... I'm going to need an ID". I would have to be 16 to be underage for the game. I am 32 with about a third of my hair being gray and my son with me.

I work @ Gamestop...

Hey greendewey, you didnt preorder uncharted 2 and expect for us to hold a copy for you cuz we can read minds. F#$@ You thats why we bug you to preorder so that S#!% doesnt happen. Its just $5 you cheapskate, I wish I was there to see you cry.

Yeah its a popular game THATS why U preorder

GS 'Pre order Tactic'

Cheap tactic to save money. I'm surprised they don't know their consumers , seeing as they are a niche retailer. You would think they would be able to gauge better than bestbuy or wal-mart how many copies they need day one. They use this threatening Pre-order or else tactic to screw people being cautious. Sometimes they never even restock a game if its obscure enough. I was told once they probably wouldn't re-order Civ 4 after their pre-orders sold through, and should pre-order next time. Glad they were wrong on that one, Bought it at best buy. I know this is a fear tactic, because you used to be able to get a reletivly popular game day one at Gamestop, I beilieve its kinda expected that a game store would have videogames there. Odd that they often don't have what you are looking for.

There are a few plesent exceptions, where you find a real hard-working, dedicated , pasionate emplyee at gamestop, that cares for their customer, I go out of my way to buy when they are in the store and not others.

I'm actually

Going into Gamestop tomorrow to pre-order a ton of holiday titles. I couldn't care less about this Deus Ex incident. I like the people who work there, and would much rather support brick-and-mortar stores than online "stores".

Everyone makes mistakes - holy crap get the hell over it... I GUARANTEE that 90% of the simply outraged people who've posted on here didn't have any intention of buying a PC copy of Deus Ex.

Vinci is right about one thing

Most people upset had no intention to buy this game for the PC from Game Stop. He is, however, wrong thinking that disqualifies these people from being upset. It was a blatantly piss poor business practice.

What?

Are you sure you don't want to call me a nerd because you've gotten to second base with at least four girls? Maybe you're the defending 9th grade arm-wrestling champion?

Greendewey made very valid points. Some people do not want to associate with a business that uses practices such as the one in this article, regardless of whether they had intended to personally purchase the game or not.

So How long have you worked for GStopo, Vinci?

There's no amount of bloodletting to convice me you DON'T work for gamestopo.

Gamestopo LIED to people about the coupon being in the game to some who wandered in and asked about it. It isn't just about this incident, it's about the countless others. Mountains of shady tactics with its employees, which is legendary. The ONLY reason they backed off a bit is that the media backlash got out of hand. They tought a bunch of stupid gamers would just roll over and take it without lube.

I definitely

don't work at Gamestop - I just buy my games there, and will continue to do so. No need for conspiracy theories, Mel Gibson. By the way, interesting use of the term, "bloodletting". Are you sure that there's no amount of blood that I can spill to convince you that I don't work at Gamestop? I mean, I'll open up a vein and spill a few pints in order to convince someone who thinks the term "Gstopo" is witty - I'm just full of blood for someone that cool.

You want to support your local economy?

If you have something against online retailers, you might consider buying the game at a smaller outlet. I don't know about your area, but often if you're willing to look around there will be some kind of smaller game store that is struggling to compete with Gamestop. Might have to go a little farther to get there, but you can usually get better customer service there, and the best thing is they will stock rarer games that most other retailers couldn't be bothered to prop up their chairs with.

I don't understand this whole notion of who you think it's right to "support," though. Gamestop is an enormous, international chain -- and based on the comments, the company didn't achieve success by being responsible corporate citizens. It's clear that Gamestop's interests lie only in how much money they can make, not in building customer loyalty through ethical practices and good service, or even in having a comprehensive supply of products. Just look at used games -- who does that support? Game developers don't see a dime of the money Gamestop makes off used game sales -- it's pure profit to the store.

By contrast, look at online venues like PSN or Steam. True, you don't get a physical copy of the game, but digital distribution sees more money go to the actual game developers, which is good for the industry. The supply doesn't run out, there are no "rare" games you can't find, and regardless of when you buy the game the money goes to the same source. There are no shady employee practices to worry about, no one will pressure you to buy a card or a pre-order, or to trade in your old games.

I don't see how supporting a brick-and-mortar building is the responsible thing to do, knowing that the building is owned and operated by scumbags.

Another sh*tty Gamestop/Electronics Boutique practice that stinks

I've bought multiple used games via their website, both on cartrdige(N64) and disc(PS1, Gamecube).

None of the used disc games I bought from them ever worked.This happened with Eternal Darkness(GC), Paper Mario(GC) and Front Mission 3(PS1).

And since it's pretty pricey to ship those items back for an exchange(>$40 to ship stuff via FedEx or UPS back to the U.S. from Aruba, where I live),they pretty much know that you won't make a peep about it, so they keep shipping you returned defective copies on purpose, just so they can make that dolla.

I suggest everyone who got burned by these punks to at least make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, either in person or via the internet.They can actually be of great help.

BBB for you and me!

I agree, the Better Business Bureau has helped me with numerous shady business practices before. If you want to make a lasting difference, contact the BBB and tell them about this. The more complaints they get the more weight the complaints will carry.

Tricks to Screw Gamestop Over

1) Reserve like 10 games one day with someone you like. Wait a few days then go in and cancel them all with someone who is a little bitch. Watch them freak out over numbers. The numbers do not come off the original employee. It's why we hated taking cancellations.

2) You can return nearly ANY new opened game with these words: "I bought this game or my sister bought this for my younger (Replace with family member who is a little kid) and it is totally inappropriate." This works especially every time with M-Rated games because Gamestop policy is too take back an M-Rated game from any parent/adult if they think it's inappropriate for their kid.

3) When Gamestop guts a new game they put a little round clear seal sticker on it which classifies it as new by their standards. You can get these at any retail store and Gamestop will take a return of a new game if it's on.

4) Gamestop will allow you 7 days to try a used game out and return it. People can seriously abuse this policy if done with different employees as their systems don't visibly track the amount of returns a customer makes.

5) Gamestop CAN look up a lost receipt within 2 months if you know which register and a rough date.

6) An employee may tell you that a game will sell out and be unavailable but you will be able to find it at any Best Buy. Pre-orders are only good for the bonus stuff.

7) If you really want to annoy pissy Gamestop employees then do this: All the walls in a Gamesotp usually have to be organized and alphabatized every night. Pick up random games and place them in the wrong spots. This infurates them.

8) Ask an employee to help you pick out a DS game for your little kid. They have no idea what they are suggesting and they have to pick up all the DS cases that little kiddie and read it to you like they know about it.

9) When walking in the store, instead of using the door handle, put your greasy hands all over the glass.

10) Get in line when it's really long and busy. Next ask for a rare hard to find game you know is out of stock. Proceed to ask the employee to call other stores if they have it in stock.

11) Do the same as above but do it when your going to make a really large purchase like a console with a bunch of accessories and games.

12) Do #10 again when it's busy but bring in a few game consoles to trade-in. They are required to hook them all up and make sure they work. You can either keep the console or trade it in.

13) My all time favorite. Most Gamestop stores close at 9 and all employees are required to be done by 10 to prevent overtime. Wait to come in to the store at 8:50 with the biggest boatload of trade-ins you have, including consoles.

It's posts like these

someone needs a girlfriend

Go ahead a waste everybodys time and piss off ur local gamestop employee and see what that gets you. scratched disk, no box art, no preorder bonus or freebies and since you canceled like ten games see if I let you know about that collectors Ed. or all the FREE stuff You get when you preorder. You are only hurting yourself remeber that.

Awesome Post

Stealing

I would consider the action of Gamestop stealing. Whatever was put into that box was meant to be sold with it. That includes the game, manuals, advertisements, artwork, and the coupon for the game. Anything removed from the box is theft. Straight up opening a new product and removing something from inside.

If they put games out on the floor they would get ripped off.

I think they need to stay out of malls so they can change up easier and get with the program. I have life long friends from managers to part timers. I guess that's why I don't call them horrible like everyone is. Where was all of this before ? I have never heard so much venom aimed at one place and so sudden. I'm always looking for good in something so I guess I a minority in that respect. Happy Complaining.

Notorious

Gamestop is notorious for things like this. Try working for one sometime. For a Games store they are extremely corporate and push for really slimey sales tactics. There are good employees but the majority they hire are people who will be little slaves that just put games back and organize all day long or they hire salesman who will lie and bullshit anything to the customer for a reservation. I had to work with a girl for over a year who would say the most racist nastiest things about other non-white co-workers and customers. I complained repeatedly, sound recorded her, and even wrote letters to management. Took an entire year for them to even punish her because she had phenomenal sales numbers. She disgusted everyone. That explains my ever lasting experience working for Gamestop.

Unethical, Desperation Play

I think selling the games as new is only half of the issue. Sure it is against their interests to have the coupons in there, however the promotion is a part of the product as organized between On-Live and Square-Enix. I don't know the legalities, however I agree this is unethical. There is an unwritten contract between the consumer and the retailer that what Square ships as a product, including its promotions bonuses and codes, is intact and whole. GameStop is not only selling an opened product, they are selling an un-whole, incomplete product.

I feel no one is making a big issue about On-live losing their promotion. Square, out of fear of alienating its largest retailer has completely bent over backward to GameStop’s demands and is allowing a recall of its product. GS can get away with this because of square-enix-eidos being a smaller player in terms of size and consumer mindshare, same with On-Live. However as my friend @reidmain has pointed out to me, what if it was GS removing the Steam codes out of PS3 copies of Portal 2? (I assume these codes exist and if they don't that's besides my point) these boards would be aflame, readers and editors frothing at the mouth. Obviously they couldn't get away with this, on the part of EA and Valve.

Like a shopping coupon, retailers have the right not to honor said coupons at the expense of consumer loyalty, and are well within their rights not to sell any product that feature coupons. GS should have refused to sell Deus Ex PC. They claim they didn't know about the promotion, I suppose that is fair after having bought hundreds of thousands of copies; this is their only saving grace. However opening the product and trying to sell as new, and forcing a product recall isn't right. They will get away with it because they feel they were misled and Square are doing the right thing in taking the copies back. GS isn't right in doing what they did, and square has every right to include the promotion, at least they should have warned their retailers about it, so they could chose to carry it or not. Perhaps Square will find another way to promote Onlive.

My worry is that GameStop has no issue with pulling stunts like this. Now it is an Onlive coupon, next it could be pulling DLC codes that aren't their own exclusives, or withholding promotions in favor of those that only trade in games. Some other BS is around the corner I guarantee. This whole thing makes me wish I had other alternatives for pre-ordering my games locally. It will ironically end up driving consumers to other retailers, and online services like Steam, Origin, On-live , Gamefly etc.

On that note, this whole coupon-gate stinks of desperation on the part of GameStop, they are the last grasp in retail software sales, as compucenter, RadioShack and others have gone out of business or evolved years ago. To the argument their Exclusive DLC is something they are doing to stay in business, I say that they have nothing to do with the trend; it is more a play of the publishers to combat piracy and used game sales. Sorry for the digression, but i think it is relevant to the GS discussion. Thanks for reading.

hilarious. gamestop boycott!!!!

Well, i've stopped using gamestop, period. their buy/sell pricing on used games is absurd (easily a 60-70% difference in buy/sell pricing except for brand-new games, where it's closer to 50%- worse than college textbooks) Scalping their own clientele for their used game pipeline is absurd and borderline unethical, and besides these practices, of course we have practices like these going on.

funny and recent story- i called gamestop ahead to see if they had a copy of deus ex for the 360, they indicated they did, i told them to hold it for me, and i ran over there to pick it up. of course, once i got there, they told me that they didn't have any extra copies for people that didn't preorder. so i walked over to the xbox area, picked up a copy displayed on the shelf and tried to buy it. i was then told, that nonwithstanding the fact it was displayed for sale in the xbox game section, they didn't have extra copies. to which i responded, 'well, why it is in the shelf?' 'to let people know we have it in stock' came the response.

of course, the next logical question was, 'but you don't have any copies in stock for sale, so why it is on the shelf?' i got a shrug, and then the clerk attempted to sell me a gamestop membership and a strategy guide to deus ex (which they did, apparently, have in stock).

at my count, amestop has at least 5 strikes against them- 1. hard sell approaches on preordering/membership/strategy guides; 2. incredible gall in setting purchase/sale prices for used games; 3. poor customer service; 4. inadequate stock of new games- and the emphasis on preordering really puts those of us who like to see a review of a game before buying it out in the cold; 5. unethical and potentially illegal practices of opening up new games to remove stuff.

Not cool enough for their club

It's a joke isn't it? I was excited to have a GameStop in my town when I left for college, and quickly realized what a craphole the place is. Wal-Marts and Best Buys will always stock huge supplies of new games if you have that as an option, but it's still full price. Online stores have to lower their costs to account for shipping and such, so it can be cheaper for us, the consumers.

Need more gamestop employee responses

and I don't mean from corporate but from the front line guys at the register. All gamestop stores are not created equal it seems. And I'd like to hear how they handled the situation, be it local, district or regional.

I'll tell you something

I worked at Gamestop during the release of Halo Reach. Our store reserved WAY more copies then we had on hand to sell. However, we were told by our AM to sell copies to anyone, including those without reservations. This happened to all the stores in our area. Low and behold, we had some MOTHERFUCKING PISSED OFF customers who didn't get GUARANTEED reserved copies. The reserve is such bullshit. Gamestop gets a ratio quantity based on the amount of reservations, and reservations are in no way guaranteed. Gamestop employees are told to find a way to tell customers that a game will be sold out on release so you will need to reserve it to get a copy or you might have to wait a long long long time. Of course, go to any Target, Best Buy, or Walmart in your area and they will have several hundred copies of a really popular game on release day. The company is run so shady like.

the lowdown on preorders

recently, their huge emphasis on preordering has left me hanging. I'm sure this varies store to store, but my two local stores tend to treat people who don't preorder rather poorly. at least half the time i try to buy a new game within a week of release and tell them, "no, i didn't preorder," i invariably get an eye-roll, a "I have to talk to my manager," and then a "you had to preorder, we don't have enough copies, try back in a few days. would you like to preorder something today?"

of course, i'm not going to preorder. ever. gotta see the reviews before dishing out 60+ bucks for a new game. i still feel sorry for those poor people who preordered games like duke nukem forever or the new call of juarez before seeing the awful reviews. of course, that's why gamestop is putting such an emphasis on preordering. a game comes out, gets bad reviews, and they're left with copies they can't sell. the more people prepay and reserve copies, the more Gamestop hedges its bets, and the customer takes the risk of getting a crap game. I, for one, am not going to take the risk that a game doesn't live up to the pre-release hype for the benefit of an "exclusive in-game outfit" or some crap like that.

what risk ?

it's time for the juggernaut to fall

I always buy used games from gs especially when im low on cash but i am willing to never have that opportunity again if it mean its going to stop the monopolization of video game sales. i hope this puts gs out of business because i am tired of the way they treat employees and in turn how the employees treat customers. They get away from stealing from the industry and now they think they can get away from selling us used items as new?????

Sad Really

Its funny in trying to stop the sales of online games to customers by doing GameStop just made it more open. I had no clue what Onlive was until this article. But looking at how technology is changing and moving its not some thing they can stop by pulling coupons. take a look at the music industry.

Isn't the same parent company the owners of IGN/1UP?

I talked a manager a while ago who stated that they own these companies. I'm not sure what that means exactly, but it is curious. It also means they are reading our outrage over this.

I intend to keep using gamestop, but only because I have 2 pre-orders pending with them and a crap ton of points on my rewards program card with them. After that I'll probably stick to a local store called Past Time Legends near where I work.

he was pretty clear

So much Gamestop hate.

Maybe at other stores, but the Gamestops I shop at only gut one copy of a game (PC) to present the box out in the PC section of a store. It's a smart move considering some people download the game illegally and just want the OnLive code (which is also taken from the box and stored where no one but the workers could get to). I've bought a "Last Copy" of a game there many times and they always put all the contents back into the box. Maybe some Gamestops are just messing it up for the others; what a shame.

This wasn't a couple stores acting independently

GameStop's PR isn't denying the fact the company did this. Nor did they feel the need to apologize. Perhaps you missed this?

In addition to what's been said by GameStop PR, a statement was posted on Facebook which reads, "Regarding the Deus Ex: Human Revolution OnLive Codes: We don't make a habit of promoting competitive services without a formal partnership. Square Enix packed the competitor's coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons. While the new products may be opened, we fully guarantee the condition of the discs to be new. If you find this to not be the case, please contact the store where the game was purchased and they will further assist."

Bummer

As a former employee I know for a fact we would gut new games, they would get messed up being mishandled, and then we would sell them as new. Here's a tip: When Gamestop opens a new game they put a round clear plastic sticker seal on it, the kind you find at any retail outlet. They will take the game back if that seal is on it or if you put one on it.

Did This Happen With Portal 2?

What it comes down to is...

1) Everyone reading this story can tell you a better way GameStop could have handled it. You can contact SquareEnix and make a public statement flat-out saying that you're not going to sell copies of games with these kinds of coupons. You can pull the existing copies from shelves. You can refund pre-orders. But, what you can not do is tamper with the merchandise and pretend that there's nothing missing. GameStop had no idea that this was the wrong thing to do. They had to be told.

2) GameStop only stopped removing the codes after they got caught.

3) As long as people continue to shop there, this will never stop happening.

maybe now

people will leave Gamestop alone and try other places.Walmart,Best Buy and Amazon,(i prefer Amazon).I don't know why people are acting shocked about GS pulling a stunt like this.I have the 360 version so it didn't affect me,but even I'm pissed about them doing this.

a quick note

I bought Nier a few weeks ago saying it was "New." Grant it, that the game was 20 dollars I picked it up. I try to register the internet code on the Square Enix site and it gave me a "this code has already been used" Seriously! I say. GS has somthing against Square Enix.

Tactics; Games

Anyway, I wanted to add that, at least GameStop didn't take them out and then resale the "free" enclosed offers.

And, the funniest/saddest thing about all of this? What are people complaining about? They can't get access to an OnLive version of the game. The thing, though, the offer is for people who bought a copy already.

In other worse, the complaint is that people who have already bought the game can't get another copy (Again, they can't get a free copy of a game they already own a physical copy of)... Quite petty, people.

its not petty

its wanting what was promised with the purchase of the game. Its the same principe as when you buy movies, the tend to come with a disc copy and a digital copy. Even if I never ever use that digital copy, its still included, and if I am not getting what is promised when I agreed to purchase said item, then I would feel cheated.

Agree with Alpha Nerd

Its not petty, its a violation of trust. Would you pay full price for an open box of cereal? Would you pay new price for a used car? New = factory sealed in retail terms. Using their definition of "new", I should be able to return their open box "new" games for a full refund. You can't. Double standards such as this should not be tolerated. Tolerating this only shows the retailer what they can get away with, and that they can continue to push the limits of what we as gamers will tolerate. Its a slippery slope.

Your example of the Elder Scrolls special edition was intriguing. Yeah, Gamestop sells collectables, but I don't think that this is that straight forward.

The Onlive situation was because it's a direct competition to GameStops upcoming similar service. It affects them directly. But, any collectables sold aren't connected directly to GameStop (They're just a retailer), and therefore aren't a competitive product. Which obviously means that as far as they're concerned, a sale is a sale.

Not quite the same with the online service situation. They're more than just a retailer and have a much more vested interest with their upcoming service being the only thing pushed by the store.

Here are the two situations talked about here:

Skyrim statue competes with *insert toy company here*

OnLive service competes directly with GameStop.

What one do you think would be of a bigger, more direct concern for Gamestop?

(And yep, after re-reading this, I didn't make sense. Good luck for anyone trying to decipher what my point was meant to be).

Wow

Just read the article. That's a pretty brash move by Gamestop. It's not enough that they lie to a customer's face about the condition of a game, or run in back to saran wrap said game to make it appear to be a sealed copy. Now they're taking out promotional materials from preorders, and then selling them as new? How have they gone about explaining why these "new" games aren't factory sealed? Honestly, Gamestop has been overdue for a lawsuit for years. I genuinely hope Square or OnLive take notice of this.

A question of ethics

There are questions to be answered before GameStop's actions are deemed illegal, the most pressing of which is "What was the contract?" Did GS have a pre-existing agreement with Square Enix concerning the contents of the packaged game? If so, what did that contract specify and what was the timeline for the 'discovery' of the added game code? If there was no contract or the contract did not cite specifics, then GS is legally liable for their actions in removing content from the packages.

GS had several options open to them, each would have cost them some of their profit margin in varying degrees. The most costly would have been to send the games back to SE and demand repackaging with out the included game code. This would have most likely cause them to lose out on Pre-orders and opening day sales. Option two is what they chose, remove the codes. In addition, they had the choice to tell the customers up front of their actions or hope that no one would notice, someone noticed. This is going to cost them more than they think in the long run in the form of customer dis-satisfaction. The third option would have been to suck it up and sell the games as is, recognizing that they would take a hit on the competitive service. Considering that most gamers tend to toss the 'free play' codes, this would have hurt the profit margin the least. As a result of their choice they will be losing a, as yet unknown, percentage of the market share through customers leaving and others looking at the OnLive service as a result of the current publicity.

As for whether the opened packages were deemed new or used is up to the company. GS can define "New" to mean an unopened package OR a game that has never been played OR a game that has never been sold. Each of those can and does fall within the scope of "new" for many businesses. There are companies that sell pre-packaged products with seals in place, there are others that will open that packaging and inspect the product for obvious physical breakage and yet others who will open the packaging to test the product for performance. If GS chose to, they could have every game opened that comes into one of their outlets and the contents licked by employees and *still* call it new.

Regardless of the legality of their actions, one must question precisely *where* did your execs get their training in business ethics?

OnLive is the true victim.

OnLive probably paid SquareEnix to put those copies in their game and remain untampered. How is it fair that OnLive gets screwed out of what they paid for? They either need to sue GameStop for tampering with their product or sue SquareEnix for not telling GameStop about the coupon. Don't companies write detailed contracts with eachother for this very reason? Why was there no contract?

If OnLive went dead today, this would be no less relevant

The point would remain that GameStop tampered with products, diminishing the value of the product without informing the customer. It is the principle, not how much stock you put into the value that was removed.

Slabtowner: No

Why would GS care about OnLive if it would be dead in "37 minutes?" Why would GS develop a streaming game service similiar to OnLive if it's dead technology? You are ignorant and probably work at GS, wanker.

Pointless comment

Word-of-mouth affects companies, both good and bad. When a company is truely great, they get free advertising from satisified customers. When a company pulls a stunt like this, people complaining will deter others from doing business with them. GameStop is getting bad publicity for this, and that is exactly what they deserve.

Good Riddance GameStop

There's a gamestop a few miles from me that has nice, friendly employees. They made me actually want to support them. There's another gamestop 0.5 mile from me filled with annoying, condescending, shady employees. These left a more lasting impression.

It is telling about what sort are the higher management, that they have a policy of screwing the customers to make up for their own mistakes here. Wal-Mart wouldn't even do that.

Um not even close to ok.

Onlive made a deal with SE. How did gamestop even think this was ok? I think they will face two lawsuits and they will not win. Just wow. How about I open cereal boxes and take out the prizes because I don't agree with them. I will not shop gamestop anymore. This I promise.

As far as my facts go:

no problems with gamestop (in the KC area). Games I buy new come in packages (I wouldn't accept them any other way, nor would anyone I know).

*People have plenty of problems with GS, my only one is getting harassed everytime I walk into the one I visit twice weekly.

*"Yeah, I'm fine. I know more about games than you and I probably heard about a preorder before it hit your store"

Obviously it's illegal if owners are doing this, you pay for a new game you get the full rights as a new game owner (as well as the legal obligations). If there is a clause otherwise there should be a TIME article, not a 1up news article.

I have five preorders on GS right now, i'm not saying they're the best but if this shit holds true I will pull all of mine.

Woo..

But seriously, I hope that this get the attention it deserves, not just from the gaming community but from a business standpoint. As another commenter said, if you were to buy a PC game and open the shrink wrap they wouldn't allow you to return it. I bet for anyone that is wanting to return their copy will be denied for this very reason.

Lost A Lot Of Respect

While I can understand why a customer would perfer a sealed copy as opposed to the display copy, I can't honestly sit back and say that we evil GS employees go and play, abuse, and lie to our customers. I am not aware of this particular issue, but it has always been policy to put one (of many, many copies) of a game on display so the customer can see what we have in stock and what we don't have. Obviously, we perfer to sell the sealed copies because we would then have to put another on display for out on hand inventories. Granted, we also seal the display copy with a full case seal.

It is true that Gamestop employees are allowed to take games home to play for a short period, but it is untrue that these are new games. We are only allowed to "check out" used games. Any employee who takes home a new game is considered theft, which entitles them to be fired or fully purchase the game they have made "used". Granted, I can't say ALL Gamestops enforce this policy, seeing as I have been to quite a few Gamestops that made me want to punch myself in the face.

For most games that have some sort of add-on inside, we remove from the package, put in an envelope with a disc, and then reinsert when the display copy is the last copy and is purchased. If this is stolen from the case, that also constitutes theft in our store.

I'm currently on vacation (and it's wonderful if I might add) so I don't know about the OnLive insert, but I wouldn't see Gamestop Corporate telling employees to lie to the customer and open every new copy. I DO understand the concern for selling a competitors product in your store. Would you go into McDonalds and expect anything else? A Nike store and expect Adidas? The truth is, Gamestop is launching a new digital distribution site and is intensely focused on creating new competition in the digital market. Why would we include a promotion for a competitor? That is silly.

Yes, I understand that some Gamestops are truly terrible, and I understand when a customer doesn't want the display copy (I'll call up our other local store or direct him to Target if he/she doesn't like it), but this page seems intent on slandering a policy that has been in place for many years, like it or not.

I won't be responding to any comments, seeing as i'm sure i'll be out of the margin. My only advice is to stop jumping to conclusions/grabbing your pitchforks anytime the word "Gamestop" is used. We're not all that bad, and if you really don't like us, shop somewhere else. Using the internet to "troll" is useless, and honestly, pathetic.

I don't think you should lose respect for 1up...

They've really just been reporting the facts. Unless you meant the 1up community, because then I'd understand. And I'm only commenting because they qouted me last in this article, and I was the one talking about super-sketch GameStops. I try not to judge ALL based on the ones in my area, but the ones here are notorious for breaking the rules, and since everyone's in on it, nobody really gets caught. So it's unfortunate. I know there are plenty of GameStops that aren't all like that, I've been to a few that were perfectly fine, and the employees where chipper and helpful people who seemed like they enjoyed their job (or at least where having a good day/are excellent actors haha) The problem I personally have with the Display Copy thing is that they don't always tell you that that's the only one they have left. They (remember this is all subjective to the ones in my area) usually just go grab the dirty box (not GS fault, but the customers) fetch the disk and toss it in there. The discs used to be filthy dirty and covered in finger-prints, though that seems to be rare now-a-days, thank goodness.

As for the competition thing? That's life. It's going to happen, and their online service is nowhere near being ready to launch, so why care at this point? If it was just an advert, the reaction would be much less. But they jipped you out of an actual, second, FREE copy of the game you just bought. It'd be like a record store selling you a vinyl album that you've been anticipating, and removing the insert with the free digital download of it before they sold it to you because "Hey. It's competition." That's not fair, now is it? It's petty is what it is. If GameStop is so worried about competition, then they need to make sure that their service blows OnLive out of the fucking water. They'll already have brand-name recognition going for them, things like this are just cheap and petty.

I can agree with this

This is kind of irrelevant but I find it funny how everyone bitches that developers are trying to stop used game sales. People want used games and feel they're entilted to all new game content. The irony comes from all the hate GS gets. Gamers want to be able to buy and sell used games but for some reason they "hate" Gamestop, the leading distributer in used games...

I guess what I'm trying to say is I agree with most of your points, about everyone grabbing pitchforsk when GS is mentioned, but I do feel this event was truely wrong.

You are lying...

" but it has always been policy to put one (of many, many copies) of a game on display"

It is corporate practice to open many, sometimes a dozen in my district, copies for display purposes of newer games.

"We are only allowed to "check out" used games"

Also untrue, read your employee manual. It may be a manager thing in your store, but the corporate rules allow new games to be "checked out"

"For most games that have some sort of add-on inside, we remove from the package, put in an envelope with a disc..."

Hah! Not a single store in either district I worked in did this. The disk was the ONLY thing removed. Not even the intall keys were taken out most times. Which, of course, resulted in the display boxes often missing stuff.

"but I wouldn't see Gamestop Corporate telling employees to lie to the customer and open every new copy. "

Except for the fact that this is EXACTLY what happened. Cripes, read the article. Look at Gamestop's facebook page. They've already admitted to it and effectively said, "so what, deal with it!"

@Slippyblade

- wrong, my store puts ONE copy of each new game on the floor, as it is required to have at least on for the Title on Hand inventory count. The only time I have seen us put excess titles is if it is a REALLY big title that we have an entire box of, like Call of Duty, and even then we put only put out two. This is my stores policy, sorry.

- wrong, my store does not allow check out of new games. Perhaps it is my managers descision, but it is a smart one. If we play a new game, it is not new anymore. My store will only allow employees to check out new games if they will buy it when the four days are up. This is my stores policy, sorry.

- wrong, Leaving ANY codes on the floor is an opportunity for theft, which we have seen happen. If a customer purchases the display copy and the code has been stolen off the floor, we will sell it at a discounted price. The stores you work for are ridiculous if they wouldn't take out PC Keys. Seriously?! That's just telling people to steal from us.

- I am on vacation and i'm unaware of this particular incident. I can't imagine the message was as blunt as "lie to these fuckers, muahhahahaha". I will check it out more when I get home, my main issue is the "grab your pitchfork" attitude towards Gamestop and several other flaming of Gamestop's long existing policies.

It sounds like the stores that you have worked/been in are not honest stores. this happens, I said that myself. There are Gamestops I won't even go into again because the way I was treated. The policies that I stated are ones that my store follows, I apologize if your store didn't. Leaving codes on the floor, playing new games, etc. is TERRIBLY business ethics and I wouldn't shop at that particular store either. Regardless, i'm not "lying" about any of this. I'm offering my opinion as an employee, attempting to show that not all Gamestops are the "devil" as some would believe.

I've always felt a little dirty shopping at Game Stop

I buy most of my games on Amazon. I occasionaly buy from Game Stop out of convinence (there is one right by my house). Every time I go there I am annoyed by the employees, in some way or another. The amount of suggestive selling they do, trying to get me to pre-order every game and basically implying I am stupid when I say no, gets tiring. Why people trade in games to them, confuses me, as they give basically nothing compared to what you can get selling on Amazon. Next time there is a game I need "now", I will drive a little extra to Best Buy. Game Stop, we're done.

This has to be illegal

I've never had the problems that most people seem to with Gamestop,but this is just completely out of line.I'm not even a staunch supporter of SE these days but they have to be able to retaliate somehow. I'm just...i'm at a loss for words. I mean,snakey business tactics are one thing, but to publicly admit to tampering with products and continuing with business as usual anyways is just beyond ballsy. They need to pay for this...Big time.

You know...

Having worked at a grocery store for 6 years, I think tomorrow I'll go in and open up all the boxes of Cracker Jacks and kids' Cearal I can find and remove the toys and prizes from inside, and then tape them back up and put them back on the shelf to sell as new. It IS a grocery store, afterall... not a toy store. And I wouldn't want to be supporting any competing businesses.

Now I'm Hungry

People still shop at GameStop?

Jesus people, support your local retailers. I refuse to shop at GameStop simply because they over-price everything. I don't know how they can justify selling a used game for $5 less than a new one. Actually, I know how the justify it - it makes money! What I really don't know is who the hell still shops at GameStop.

This actually doesn't surprise me, though it should.

I worked for Gamestop for eleven years (nine of that in management), and I will say that I'm disappointed, but not surprised. And I suppose the second part is the most troubling, because I should be surprised that it happened.

Gamestop used to have a great relationship with video game publishers. Those publishers used to send reps all the way to my store in Vermont, including a Blizzard/Sierra rep that I was on a first name basis with (who is still an awesome person for sending us all free copies of Starsiege and Starsiege: Tribes). Over the past few years, as publishers' costs have increased, and Gamestop's used game business has gone through the roof, and the two sides have come to this insane balancing act where each one hates the other but can't live without one another (Gamestop hates because new game margins are near-nothing, publishers hate because used sales get them no profit).

Now, amidst this tenuous relationship, Square Enix puts together a deal with OnLive, and Gamestop feels threatened because SE are essentially introducing a competitor to GS' new entry into the game streaming business (which won't be ready for another year, it seems). If Gamestop saw this as serious competition, their resolution should have been clear: take care of the pre-order customers, and send the rest back to Square Enix. The solution they came up with, stripping the coupons out before customers could get them and thus impeding a competitor? Well, I work in management for a supermarket now, and we don't take the ads for competitors out of newspapers. It is dishonest.

Again, it makes me very sad to say that I am not at all surprised by this action. I really should have been. I hope that SE takes this very seriously, and I sincerely hope that other publishers (and consumers!) take notice.

On a possitive note

It makes me so happy to see that finally people are starting to vote with there cash, by not buying games from this crazy company. As far as i know we don't have a GameStop in Sweden, but the thing is, this company throws a shady light on the whole industry. So since all we read about GameStop is dubious to say the least, please guys and gals, do don't validate there existence by giving your hard earned cash that way, go with Amazon, or any company that seemingly at least gives you what you want.And the BS about there own cloud service, you cant be a competitor if you don't have a service, and as by there own words they're developing there service, so isn't it a bit strange that they view OnLive as competitors now? Just because I one day, maybe, gonna work for a software company, that doesn't make BioWare a competitor of mine ^_^